Coma
Coma is a open world, survival game developed by ZK Studios for PC, available through Steam. It is set in a fictional apocalyptic setting at some point in the near future. A sequel, called Reawakening, was slated to be a sequel to Coma, but was cancelled due to unknown reasons. The base game only contains singleplayer, though ZK Studios planned to release multiplayer in a free DLC later on. The singleplayer follows the story of a hero and their journey in surviving in the chaotic apocalypse. The Story The protagonist of the story is a woman named Olivia Noelle. In the prologue, which takes place in 2015, Olivia is involved in a car accident, putting her into a coma. This coma lasts for many years. Over the years that she is in the coma, a war that devastates most of the world occurs. Human life is on the brink of extinction. Some years pass by after the war officially ends and Olivia wakes up. She has no sense of time and does not remember much about what happened before she woke up. All that she knows is that humankind beat itself to a pulp and everyone was doing what they could to survive. As time goes on, Olivia begins to remember some certain things about her past and those flashbacks make her want to recover more about it. As she is going about on her quest to remember her past, she meets a group of survivors who reside in a nearby city, renamed to the Republic of Josh, or Joshtown. In addition, she finds that Joshtown is headed by a power hungry scumbag who oppresses the other survivors with his army and is a terrible leader in general. As a result, a resistance has been formed in hopes of ousting the current leader. The power struggle creates conflict throughout the city and Olivia finds herself in the middle of it when really all she wants to do is find who she was before. Characters and Factions These are the main characters and their respective factions that appear in the game. Protagonist Olivia Noelle= Olivia Noelle Parsons is the protagonist of Coma. Prior to waking up during the apocalypse, Olivia was involved in a serious car accident, which caused her coma. An unknown amount of time passes before she wakes up. She does not remember any of the events that happened beforehand and must now find out, if possible. She is unaware that a war between countries scarred the Earth, which is why the setting is apocalyptic. Olivia finds out about her name after reading some papers scattered around the room. On one document, she sees a picture of herself, alongside the name, "Olivia Noelle" (the other half of the page is ripped off). She uses that name throughout the game, not finding out about her full name until the end. Josh's Army Josh's Army acts as the "security force" of the Republic of Josh as well as the personal PMC for Josh Herren, their leader. The group is mostly made up of survivors who were given work or else they would have died or been killed. Josh's Army has the most weapons and has many members, which makes them rather intimidating. Josh Herren= Josh Herren is the antagonist of Coma, also the leader and founder of the Republic of Josh, as well as the head of Josh's Army. Josh, despite his young age, managed to get a following during the early years of the apocalypse. He was born during the first few years of the global war. His parents were both killed during the war, forcing him to live off the streets. He grew up without anyone to turn his back to, with no one that cared if he was alive or not. Josh grew up eventually and when the apocalypse came, knew he had to make a move or else he'd die like all the other incompetent survivors. He made friends with those who could handle getting their hands dirty and they worked together. Then more people joined and it eventually grew into a small army. By then, Josh was about to start his so-called republic. He was charismatic enough to convince the fighters he originally recruited to work under him. He promised he would help them lead successful lives and protect them from the apocalyptic wilds in exchange for working under him. After he gained control, Josh made it his goal to lead his new republic to success and to make it so that no one would have to suffer how he once did as a young boy. The world was a tough place and Josh wanted his people safe from that. |-| Frank Reece= Frank Reece, simply known as Reece, is the second-in-command of Josh's Army, acting as Josh's right hand man and a minor antagonist in Coma. He is an exceptional fighter, capable of taking on almost anything out there, and proves himself to be rather intelligent as well. Like Josh, Reece is relatively young, despite his high position in the organization. He met Josh during the apocalypse, when Josh was first making friends. Reece proved to be a good fighter and the two stuck together while finding more people. This created a very close bond between the two and they have been best friends ever since. |-| Nala= Nala is a common soldier for Josh's Army and later helps the protagonist. She originally joined Josh's Army because her family was on the verge of collagpse and was constantly harassed by the Army's soldiers. By joining the Army, her family would be given supplies and protection, and the soldiers would stop harassing them. Nala, although originally believing that Josh was a good guy, comes to realize what his true motives are and how much of a scumbag he is. This is around the time she meets Olivia and manages to get her working for Josh's Army. Fighters for Freedom (FFF) The Fighters for Freedom (FFF, or just "Fighters")is the resistance group in the Republic of Josh. They despise Josh and how he oppresses the other survivors, while taking everything for himself. While they may not have the arms or numbers that Josh's Army does, their clever use of the environment around them and the utilization of guerilla warfare make the Fighters a formidable opponent. Kevin Haley= Kevin Haley is the leader and co-founder of the Fighters as well as minor protagonist in Coma. He founded the resistance group after narrowly escaping execution from Josh's Army. Originally a high ranking member in the Army, Kevin came to find out that he didn't like how Josh was running things. Josh caught wind of this and eventually figured out that Kevin was trying to overthrow him. As a result, Josh ordered Kevin to be executed. Kevin was to be killed by his old friend, who actually let him go free (of course, Josh was not overseeing the killing, so he wouldn't know). Since then, Kevin started the resistance with like-minded survivors to oust Josh and his army and create a legitimate republic. Kevin is also the first person Olivia encounters while scouring Joshville. He sees that she needs help and brings her back to the Fighters' headquarters. |-| Alyssa Haley= Alyssa Haley is the younger sister of Kevin Haley and the second-in-command of the Fighters. Like Kevin, she too was a higher ranked member of Josh's Army. She was told about Kevin's execution by one of her squadmates and confronted Josh. Josh threatened to kill her as well, but let her off the hook by allowing her to leave the Army if she wanted. Seeing as how she had no choice, she left, believing that her older brother was killed. Alyssa survived in the outskirts of Joshville and ran with a small group of friends before finding out about how Kevin started the Fighters. They were reunited and Alyssa was made the second-in-command of the group, not just because she was related to Kevin, but because she was fit for the position above everyone else. |-| Skye= Skye is a captain in the Fighters and one of Olivia's best friends. Skye was originally the leader of the survivor group that Alyssa ran with before finding out about the Fighters for Freedom. Like with the Haleys, Skye has an extreme hatred towards Josh and his army, mainly because they murdered her two older brothers because they were allegedly 'betraying' the Republic, as they were also part of Josh's Army. |-| Dr. Alan Wise= Dr. Alan Wise is the head medical researcher and co-founder of the Fighters. He is important to Olivia's mission, as he knew her before time passed and the apocalypse came upon the Earth, though she does not know that until later. Dr. Wise was originally one of the head doctors who worked for Josh's Army. He was in charge of research, specifically researching on how to make superhumans. Wise was actually forced to this research after the Army found him and other surviving doctors pent up in a hospital, where they were holding up. He defected and manage to escape Josh's Army. He went rogue and eventually met Kevin Haley. Together, they founded the Fighters for Freedom. Gameplay The game is open world, meaning that the player can travel wherever they may in the world. It is also first person, though it can also be toggled to third person if the player wishes. Similar to other open world games such as the Fallout series and Elder Scrolls series, the story is completed through quests. In Coma, there are story quests, side quests, and activities. Story quests progress the story along, though they are not always available to the player. Side quests may or may not affect the story and are more or less there to add more gameplay to the game and make it more interesting. Activities are just fun little time wasters that are good for when the player has nothing else better to do. Activities can be similar to side quests, but are generally easier and do not have as much for rewards. EXP System The EXP System is the game's leveling system. All characters and enemies have a certain level, which determines how good they are as a character. For example, a higher level character would be able to inflict and resist more damage than a lower level character would be able to. For the player specifically, EXP is important for upgrading their character and progressing in the story. Story missions are not always available from the start and the player will have to reach a certain amount of EXP before they can proceed (EXP can be earned via side missions, exploring, random encounters, and more). Story Mode Prologue The prologue is mostly watching stuff. The player is able to control Olivia for a little bit, however. She is leaving the house for work on a rather dreary Tuesday morning. Olivia works for the local newspaper and is currently working on an article regarding the possibility of an all out war between countries. It starts to really downpour as she drives on the freeway. It soon becomes unbearable when the rain hits extremely hard, making it difficult to drive. Olivia hears tires squeal ahead and drives on, only to realize that there's a huge pickup truck sliding in front of her. Olivia hits the brakes, but is too late. The two cars collide. Act I: Awakening Act II: Resistance Act III: Perception Act IV: Forgiveness Act V: Transcend Multiplayer Downloadable Content Multiplayer Pack Adds multiplayer to the game. Free for all players. Reception Coma was received fairly well by critics, who praised the game's unique story and extremely smooth gameplay. While the game itself was great, it was not that different from other successful games apart from its story. Trivia *Though it is not officially said in the game, clues can be found throughout the game that reveal that the war lasted for 14 years and 22 had passed since then, meaning that 36 years passed since 2015. **Because of this, the game becomes unrealistic and makes it so that the playable character does not age whatsoever, just so that they are not too old. Category:ZKingston Category:Coma